The biggest improvement Apple has brought to the iPad with the release of iPadOS 26 is its new windowing and multitasking features. I have had the privilege of testing out iPadOS 26’s new window management features on my iPad Air 5 and have loved the experience so far.
Window management on the iPad works great, even on the iPadOS developer beta 1. I am certain things will only improve going forward, and until the software’s public release.
Here’s how the new window management and multitasking features work on iPadOS 26…
From now on, whenever you are running an iPad app in full screen, you will see a grabber at the bottom corner. You can put your finger on it and slide it to resize the app’s window. When you do this, you will notice that it will start looking like an app window similar to the ones you find on the Mac.
You can set the size of the app and then open another app to use it alongside the first app. You can move the windows around by placing your finger in their header and dragging your finger.
You can add up to four apps in a multi-app window and move them around according to your preference.
A great thing about this multitasking feature is that you can move content from one app to another seamlessly, similar to how you can do it on a computer. So if you are working on a document, you can quickly drag and drop text, images, or links to another app.
iPadOS also gets this familiar-looking toolbar that lets you close an app window, minimize it, and make it full screen.
You can also long-press on the green button to access more controls for moving the app window to one side or the other, align it at the top or bottom of the screen, as well as fill it with 2, 3, or even four apps. When you tap on the fill option, you will see that iPadOS will automatically place the apps in a grid, allowing you to multitask with ease.
Another cool feature of the new iPadOS 26 is that it brings Mac-like menus to the iPad. These change based on the app you are currently using and give you quick access to the app’s actions. Some of the actions you can quickly perform from the new menu bar usually require multiple taps inside the app, so it is not only convenient to use but also saves time.
Making iPadOS even more like the Mac, Apple has finally redesigned the mouse cursor to make it look like the one you find on the Mac. This small change really makes a big difference when you are using the mouse with your iPad.
